Monday, March 13, 2017

Kiss Me I'm Irish | A St. Patrick's Day Parade

I am a fan of holidays. Some we make bigger deals out of than others, but at the very least I like to acknowledge and celebrate them with some festive food or outfit. Friday is St. Patrick's Day, and since we are actually Irish, I figure we should do something for it. I personally am not a fan of corned beef and cabbage, but I do like leprechauns, rainbows, and the color green... so we do what we can ;)

This past weekend, we went back to our old town for the Morristown St. Patrick's Day parade. I had been searching for a while for something green to wear. While I love all shades of green, I usually think of a bright kelly green when it comes to St. Patrick's Day. In the past I've always bought Noah one of those cute St. Patty's Day shirts, but he really only gets to wear them once or twice, and they are always short sleeve (so not good for this area in March!). But this year I found him a green sweatshirt at Hanna Andersson and knew it was perfect not only for the holiday, but could also be worn any other day of the year! As for me, I was having trouble finding much in kelly green... I guess it's not a hot color this year. So when I saw this green sweater in JCrew, I knew I had to have it! I love light weight sweaters that don't add extra bulk, and the ties on the side are a nice addition to make it something special and different. (I also love the royal blue color... I was very tempted to get both!)

While I plan to wear this outfit again on actual St. Patrick's Day, I knew that it would most likely be cold at the parade and I would end up covering this sweater with my winter coat. So I grabbed my green tote that Chris got me a few years ago so that I'd have something green that would actually be seen ;). While I don't use this bag a ton, I always grab it on St. Patrick's Day as well as occasionally throughout the summer. I love the pop of color it adds and it's the perfect size to hold my essentials as well as my DSLR.

But I wasn't the only one who wore some green for the parade! It's a shame that it wasn't warmer, cause no one really knew that we were even wearing green once we added our winter coats, hats, and gloves! But underneath it all we were showing our Irish pride!

We met our good friends for breakfast before going to the parade. It's funny cause we met these friends back when we both lived in Morristown and our boys were just 6 months and a year old. We became fast friends and then both moved to our new town within six months of each other. The kids always have so much fun together and it was fun going back to our old stomping ground together.

^^^ matching camo coats (Hanna Andersson, no longer online)

Boy was it cold this year. We went to our first Morristown St. Patty's Day parade back in 2013 when Noah was only 4 months old. It was so nice out that Chris and I wore long sleeve shirts and I just added a hoodie and hat for Noah. The following year (2014) it was just as nice, wearing just a light windbreaker. In 2015, we didn't end up going because it was raining, and last year we were away in Turks and Caicos. We were so excited to finally go back this year. Despite it being 26 degrees (felt colder with the wind), we bundled up and decided to let Noah decide how long we stay. I honestly think I would have given up sooner, but he was really enjoying the whole thing. I really don't think kids feel the cold like we do. I hope next year is warmer, otherwise I'll be tempted to get a coat like this, so I can be festive AND warm!

^^^ this cart came by SO MANY TIMES! I was shocked and relieved that Noah didn't ask to buy any of that crap!

^^^ boy did I feel bad for anyone in a kilt!

Noah told us that his favorite parts of the parade were seeing all the instruments... and of course getting all the candy ;) Chris told him how he used to play drums in his middle school marching band. Noah said that when he gets bigger, he wants to play the trumpet. I loved seeing all the bands, everything from bagpipes and drums, to traditional marching bands, to some country bands.

^^^ Noah did not want his photo taken with this leprechaun... and I can't say I blame him.

^^^ Noah told us that their costumes looked like half Joker/half the Riddler. We are definitely in the Superhero stage over here!

^^^ seeing eye dogs are trained in Morristown and they had a bunch of them walk in the parade. When we lived in Morristown, I would take Noah on many walks around town and I always loved seeing the dogs out. Most of the time we would see them being trained and occasionally we would see them with someone who was vision impaired. These seeing eye dogs are the most calm and loving animals, and it's amazing the service they are providing.

Despite the cold, we had a really great time! And for fun, I thought it would be funny to share this gem of a photo from St. Patrick's Day 2011. Oh how different our Morristown St. Patty's Days are now. Here I am having my first ever jager bomb...

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8 comments:

Well it certainly looks like y'all had a festive weekend. The more I thought about, the more I remembered that in 2012 Joplin HAD a St. Patty's Day parade. It was the very first and the very last time it happened too, HA! Yours looks WAY more impressive than ours was though.

So fun!! Kelly green is my favorite color so I usually have a hard time deciding on which green things I want to wear for St. Patrick's Day. We aren't Irish, but my husband went to Notre Dame. We always look forward to celebrating every March. We didn't go to our local parade because it was 20 degrees here. Your parade looked like so much fun and you guys were dressed perfectly for it. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Your rainbow pancakes look like so much fun!

Light weight sweaters are my jam! I can’t stand bulky sweaters. I love this green one and it really is such a great color on you! Noah looks so precious and happy in that family picture. Is he holding the remote to the camera? Even if it was freezing cold, the parade looks like a blast. I love the throwback photo!